


Ashes and Dust

by HideawayB3



Series: Ashes and Dust [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-25
Updated: 2016-05-25
Packaged: 2018-06-10 16:14:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6963859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HideawayB3/pseuds/HideawayB3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>We're moving into the next part of their life. <br/>Covering family and love and all the things in between as the women and their loved ones deal with the constant shift in their lives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ashes and Dust

 

It’s officially into and out of the following new year and a recap is needed for the women who still haven’t settled down from the rush since the Christmas party. It’s coming up to their second Christmas together- and ‘very very soon’- their wedding. But life and all it affords them proves hectic, where Emma and Regina can’t even find the minutes to just settle down and enjoy the quiet of their lives when they realize it’ll be that way for the rest of it. Many birthdays and parties and graduations and pregnancies and little babies. They’d hope to plan just a simple, small and quiet dinner with their folks, but because there’s children and parents and siblings who never seem to feel their ages, the women are outnumbered in votes as it relates to holding another massive party. Technically they hadn’t settled since that early morning that they hung out, but the Christmas party was a good excuse as the starting point.

When the New Year came, so did the questions and queries of when the women would get married. Most times, it came from Emma’s mother and Regina’s father. Regina expected Henry Sr to question them on that considering he was a rampant child trying to get them together from the beginning. She’d usually just say to him,

_ “Soon,” _ which he never wanted to accept because he believed she was still waiting too long. However, during one of their many father-daughter lunches together, he’d brought it up again and Regina rolled her eyes so hard that he scolded her and she had the least bit of decency to look sheepish over it. He expressed that he had very valid reasoning for bringing it up and Regina looked at him with pursed lips that held a smile around them. She’d told him to tell her and he’d told her something along the lines of,

 

_ “Regina, you asked her some day, very very soon if she’d marry you- I don’t think that was much of a proposal,” _

_ “Daddy, it was more of a proposal than it was a promise- and I made it with Emma in mind as to not rush her and give her that opportunity of choice,” his daughter argued and the man shook his head. _

_ “You’re starting to sound like your mother,” he’d then laughed and she had smiled at him. _

_ “Well, then I know I’m doing something right...daddy, I can’t be reckless with Emma or her heart. I want us to both get married when we feel we’re ready. I never want to jump so quickly again only for us to hit wall after wall,” _

_ “But, sweetheart you’ll end up hitting them anyway, whether you jump the broom now, or jump it later.” _

_ “I know, but I’d prefer it not to be of our own doings,” she’d responded with a shake of her head _ .

_ “You always were a very critical little girl,” he teased and she smirked a little. _

_ “If I’m not, things go wrong, daddy,” she’d said to him and he made a sound of acknowledgment. Henry had then hugged her and brought her in close to him before he whispered. _

_ “My beautiful little girl with perfect curls, all grown up and into the world. Te quiero, mija.” _

_ “Te quiero, papa.” _

  
  


Emma’s mother actually surprised her, with the way she pushed and pushed for answers on when the blonde and brunette would tie the knot. The questions came directly after the Christmas party, actually they came directly after the proposal and Emma had thrown her head back before burying it into Regina’s neck and whispered something under her breath that made Regina laugh. Her mother and her sisters of course, had to be the ones to know. Her dad- he wasn’t trying to find out because he’d probably have cried just at the thought of walking her down the aisle like he’d done with Beth and almost did with Cindy. Though he’d never admit to it, he wanted to know, but he didn’t want to know. They were, in part, extremely excited over the proposal from the Christmas party that Emma had expressed multiple times-

_ “-isn’t set in stone.”  _ Of course they heard none of that because their logic was from Cindy’s viewpoint.

_ “-she got down on one knee and asked you to marry her very very soon. Seems pretty damn concrete to me-” _

_ “-Yeah, Emmie-,” Beth had agreed as she bumped her sister’s shoulder. “-she said very very soon. That means like, I dunno, but it means really soon, like maybe next year kind of soon,” Beth said to her because it was the 29th of December, four days after the Christmas party and  the day they were supposed to be having a sibling lunch day and not an ‘Interrogate little Emmie day’. Denver had snickered behind his hand as Emma scowled at him and Louie along with Kelvin had just rolled their eyes and decided to go off into their own conversation. It continued like that throughout their lunch and the six siblings who looked nothing alike, and yet acted so much more than alike, ate their meals and tried to steer the conversation away from Emma’s love life, but that came as a failure, considering she had two very girly older sisters with kids and interruptive personalities. _

_ “I swear sometimes you make me question if you took english classes,” Emma teased Beth and she threw a napkin at her. Denver instinctively put his hands over Emma’s face and Beth stuck her tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes and laughed. _

_ “How’d we get her for a sister,” _

_ “I have no idea, Den, but she’s a character,” Emma chuckled and Cindy laughed. _

_ “We’re all characters. Denver is a ‘rock star’ as he likes to put it and me and Louie are walking templates of engineering glory. Beth is the true blue, suburban mom- same way Kel’s this ladies man of flying passion.. And then there’s you, Em. The wild child of us all-” _

_ “- I thought we agreed Den was the wildchild,” Kelvin had interrupted and Louie shook his head. _

_ “Nahhh, Den’s too controlled.. and lazy, but Emmie.. She’s the wildchild alright. She’s the only one out of all of us that has a degree, can’t use it and decided to go for the next best thing,” _

_ “You’re making it sound like I wanted to be a bunny girl,” Emma groaned and Louie shrugged lightly. _

_ “Listen, like the song says ‘ If ya gat it, flaunt it’-” he started only to hear his siblings crock out in laughter. Emma was wheezing just as she asked, _

_ “Which song is that!” _

_ “A caribbean song,” he’d said with a blush. _

_ “Ahhhh!” Emma grinned and said no more. _

_ “That explains the failed attempt at an accent,” Beth shook her head with a grin and Louie just shrugged. _

 

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

  
  


They could only blink and find themselves into the new year. Their friends had all managed to come around and be cordial enough that some of them were even hanging out regularly. Regina’s father was thinking of retiring, something he’d swore he’d never do until she gave him another grandbaby. Henry had drifted away from Lina a bit in order to give her time with her boyfriend and found himself with a smaller, but slightly newer group of people. Regina and Emma were doing amazing. They weren’t arguing and were getting back into the jist of their co-parenting with Maleficent who remained rather distant from them both, still. 

But then, the slip of easiness didn’t last long for Emma… or anyone for that matter.

One announcement they’d received, sucked absolute donkey balls though. 

It was about Eva.

Eva and Jayce and Nathan were moving because of Nathan’s job. This didn’t happen until well into the new year, maybe about three months worth of time, but that doesn’t mean it was something they’d been prepared for. Granted, Eva always wished to be in a different state at some point, but it hurt her even more when just about everyone else from Emma’s side began to flock there and they were pretty much taking flight to leave. Her parents were definitely moving that way now, if only because of the wedding.. at least that’s what her mother claimed. Then, Denver and Kelvin had also decided upon moving there. Denver was always moving anyway, considering his ‘band’ that wasn’t necessarily a band had broken up and gotten back together too many times to count. Kelvin claimed he could just get a transfer out to New York so that he could finish his pilot studies and just work at one of airports up that way. They’d had nothing else to do, not necessarily any direction to go in, but to continue what they had originally started and be done with it. On a day that Regina had been ‘lucky’ enough to have a lunch, by herself with the blonde’s siblings, she’d suggested that Denver attend an art school in New York. She’d then rambled off into conversation with him about being able to help him get into one if he ever wanted the chance to continue his craft and at first he had turned it down, claiming it would do nothing for him, especially at the age he was. But, Regina couldn’t bring herself to just let that go, so she brought her concerns to her father, who took it to Emma’s father and well... Regina’s father along with his own, sat him down and gave him a pep talk where they basically backtracked their own lives and made him realize, no matter how old he may think he’s gotten, he can still be what he wants and follow dreams that he has. He still hadn’t accepted it right away because, the given opportunity meant he could cover any of the arts, and that prospect overwhelmed the man. But after a while, Denver realized something which was that both parts of his life seemed to take a huge liking to just wanting to keep the kids and that, to him, was enough. Kelvin told Denver to just move in with him if that was the case and he agreed. Emma had helped them find an apartment that was pretty much a ten minute walk from where she, Regina and Henry lived so that worked itself out because if they ever wanted food and didn’t give a damn to cook, they’d come up that way. She’d laughed at her brothers and told them that wasn’t the point of her helping them live that close and they basically snorted and told her,

“Sure it wasn’t.”

Emma had also told her parents to take her apartment, which was the perfect size considering it was just the two of them and everything had seemed to be so perfect.. because it was. The offers, the opportunities and the timing were all perfect and it was only January. Her father had grinned at the room that was painted for Henry. He’d teased her about doing what they did when she first got there and by there he meant her childhood home- the one and only one she let herself remember. Letting Henry paint and decorate his blank canvas was a thing Emma had enforced wholeheartedly and when her father pointed that particular thing out to her, she’d blushed before stating that it just felt right to do because he’d be the one staying in the room. Sleeping in the room and just… she knew that it was one thing she could give him if it were nothing else. Henry had later told them that if they wanted, they could just turn it into a study or a spare bedroom since Emma and Regina had moved in together. They’d told him no. It was his room. He painted it and that’s the way it would stay. Their own house, the last one they lived in, was being put up for rent. They couldn’t quite let go of it because it was the house where the final two kids were raised, Emma and Kelvin. It was the last bit of their family that remained together and neither of her parents could let it go. Her father had joked about ripping out the post from the old house and bringing it there so that they could keep it with the other’s that their siblings had marked as well. Emma laughed and asked her father if he actually ripped it out from the houses before and with a straight face he said,

“You bet your sweet bippy I did,” and that was it for her. She lost her shit laughing.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Regina had of course accompanied Emma to the airport and stood with an arm around her girlfriend’s waist as Emma cried by the secu check point. Eva broke down during the car ride that they all took together and Ruby had tried to hold it in, but the second they were out of sight, in the flight and up in the air- she started wailing. Mary Margaret, ever the angel, cried silently with a smile on her face and tried to convince them it was all for the best. They knew that, hell, they knew they knew that. It doesn’t mean the announcement and the action didn’t suck any less. It had come as a sudden thing by the end of the Christmas party that there was a possibility that they would be moving, but Eva claimed it shouldn’t be anytime soon. All Emma remembered saying to her was,

“ _ You jinxed it, _ ” when it did actually come around quicker than anyone expected it to.

 

Still, Regina suggested they have a little gathering with just Emma and her friends, but Emma wouldn’t go if Regina didn’t go with her. She made that abundantly clear to Regina who still seemed to be skittish around Katherine, all for valid reasons of course. Eva even scolded Regina slightly by telling her that before anything else, she knew Regina and David. She explained that as someone she considers family, she expects her there and Regina read between those lines. Eva didn’t want her there. She  _ needed _ her there. She needed her there for herself, for Emma and just as much for Katherine and the brunette herself. Regina had finally agreed. She did it with reluctance because she felt that when it came to something as intimate as that, her closests friends would be there, but Eva had looked at her strangely as she tried to figure out why the brunette felt the way she did.

“ _ And what do you think you are to me?”  _ she’d questioned her and Regina merely frowned slightly as Eva stared at her. Eva had soon after realized that Regina didn’t necessarily consider her to think of the brunette as anything more than a friend by default. Eva’s face fell into sympathy before she told the brunette,

“Regina. You  _ are _ family.” and that seemed to hit a core. That seemed to strike the nerve it needed to because Regina had broken down in tears after that. She’d sniffled herself into Emma’s arms and the blonde was confused, so, through hiccupped breathing she explained and Emma merely smiled. 

Katherine had opted not to go because out of everyone, she had the most to let go of. Her little sister that felt more like her twin than her younger sibling was moving handfuls of states away and Katherine just couldn’t do it. She couldn’t go with them to wish the three people off. She refused to say goodbye to her nephew, never being one to believe in goodbyes anyway. Eva had only been able to see Katherine a handful of times before the move and those were on occasions of forced time together because Katherine was crying continuously over it or trying to avoid Eva in hopes that it would force her to stay. She’d agreed willingly to it once, but that was for a different reason. She knew it was a selfish thing but she just couldn’t manage to see her little sister go. She couldn’t let little ‘Tink’ fly off- literally and then just start all over in another state. Some may have deemed her dramatic or claimed she overreacted, but Katherine was rather surprised when her most important source of comfort came not just from Regina, but from Zelena. Zelena had explained that whilst it wasn’t necessarily the same instance she and Regina went through, it was wholeheartedly understandable to hate the thought of being away from her sister. She further expressed this and in the front of Regina no less that,

 

_ “Even though I ran away from home and my little sister, I never once forgave myself for seeing the way her face fell when she knew that was the last time she’d see me for a long time. And at first I may have felt as though I did the right thing, but something in me just hated the fact that I left her alone. Something in me made me miss her more than anything else. Something in me made me realize that my beautiful little sister was the reason why I wanted to return home. I could only go off the few times we spent together where she actually talked to me because I’d told her before never to speak to me and..” Zelena had trailed off. There were obvious tears she’d still been battling to keep tamp down as she expressed herself. Regina wasted no time in hugging her. Zelena had pulled the young woman into her lap and hugged her even tighter. She never wanted to let go again. She never wanted to lose Regina again. Zelena never wanted to repeat history- ever again. _

_ “Lena,” she’d heard her little sister's whisper, “It’s okay. I’m right here,” she’d told her and Zelena laughed tearily. _

_ “You are.. You’re right here,” she had agreed and Regina nodded. _

_ “I am, but I’d like to not feel like a five year old sitting in your lap,” she’d joked and Zelena laughed louder. She’d motioned for her little sister to move and Regina gladly vacated her sister’s lap. _

_ “Sorry.. It’s just.. The only thing I can remember was you saying ‘watch me, Lena!’ and your face. It was so pure and so sweet and it was just so.. Regina you were a beautiful little girl with a light that could illuminate the world if you let it. I envied the way you smiled even though I was terrible to you-” _

_ “-I didn’t care and I still don’t. You’re my sister and I just wanted you to love me. I just wanted you to watch me follow in your footsteps,” Regina explained and Zelena shook her head sharply. _

_ “Good Lord, I’m glad you didn’t,” _

_ “Why?” _

_ “Because, you would have ended up like I had. Far away from home, from my heart and missing years of growth and love and family. Never follow me, Regina. I messed up and I was only lucky enough to come back and be welcomed so easily by you and daddy,” she told her little sister and Regina nodded though she wanted to argue. Katherine had watched their exchange in awe and somehow, their exchange brought her own understanding about Eva leaving. _

 

She shouldn’t be bent out of shape over Eva leaving. She should focus on the things she had that most don’t get to have or reject because of selfishness. Katherine realized that the relationship she and Eva have, mimic that of Regina and Zelena. They’re sisters with a past that will last a lifetime and that’s where their hearts will always be. She can’t be bitter that her heart is making room for change because that’s what they do. They allow other things in but you remain there with them always and Eva wasn’t leaving Katherine behind because Katherine was and is her heart, she’ll take her with her and let her mind drift in stages to hear her voice and see her face when a mere phone call doesn’t suffice or an email won’t do the trick.

 

Still, she didn’t go with them to the airport, she did, however take the time to write a very loving letter to her sister and put together an album for her and burn a playlist that both of them loved. She’d taken more pictures of the twins and plugged them into the book before packing their grandmother’s old doll in a bag of things for her. Eva had broken down at the site of the little trinkets and other things Katherine had packed, but her sister wasn’t done there. When she’d looked back up at her sister to thank her, Katherine was holding out a charm necklace that broke into two halves. 

_ “I know we never got to have these growing up, but I figured, better late than never, right?”  _ she’d asked with a sheepish smile and her sister had tackled her with a grin and a wet laugh.

 

David couldn’t make it because of work and the same was said for Regina’s father, but the men took Eva, her son and husband out for a special lunch and dinner so that they could have at least a bit of time with them. Funny, through all of that, it delayed their move because they weren’t done packing since everyone kept pulling them left and right wanting the last few days with them... however, Nathan seemed adamant about leaving, which didn’t sit right with anyone because there seemed to be some underlying reasons that had nothing to do with his job. Henry Sr had pulled her aside at one point and asked her if that’s truly what she wanted and it took her a while before she breathed in deeply and let out a sigh. She told him yes, but he could see the warring words in her mind that told her to say more, to speak more. But she didn’t. She couldn’t because it made her husband happy, even if it came out of the blue. It was something he’d worked his ass off for and she would be the good wife she always was and support him. Henry Sr had brought up if it came at the cost of her own independence and happiness and she’d told him that,

“-it doesn’t necessarily matter anymore. I have a son and in all honesty, his happiness is the only thing left for me to succeed in. I can’t break up my home,”

“I’m not asking you to.. No one is. We love you, sweetheart and we just want what’s best for you and we’re just concerned for you, little Belle,” he smiled at her and she’d broken down in tears over the name because it was rare that Mister Mills, threatener of feet would usually pull out the names he had for literally ‘all my children’ as he referred to them. She’d tackled the man with a hug and squeezed him tight, her tears streaming down her face as she thought of the words she knew to be true.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Regina and Emma had also learned that during their whole break-up stint the previous year that Jefferson and Nadia had made up just shy of the Christmas party.

 

“ _ So that’s why you were there all snuggled up and smiling, _ ” she’d teased him one evening when Emma had taken Henry along with Lina and a few of their friends out for some fun. It was actually the 31st of December, New year’s Eve. Jefferson hadn’t seen his best friend since that evening-  technically they’d missed seeing one another since the whole blow out with everyone and that was because both of them were caught up in repairing their broken homes and renewing the love they had for their partners as well as trying to figure out how to deal with their hard-headed friends and family. He’d called Regina at one point and complained that he missed seeing her and obviously she’d told him the same. They’d laughed over the fact that the second life began, it just didn’t quit and Jefferson suggested they have at least one night for themselves every blue moon. It was coincidence… so Henry claimed, that he and his friends just happened to be going out a few days later and suggested that Regina and Jefferson hang out that day. New Year’s Eve. He’d then told Emma, just to sell it even more that she would need to chaperone just because and Emma caught the hint. She caught on to the implication that Henry was trying to keep his mother social, all while not actually telling her he was doing so. Regina had agreed because she never caught on to Henry’s plan. It didn’t go without her complaining that she wanted to spend it with them, but Henry told her that whilst he loved her dearly, he had already promised his friends and Lina and he knew that more than likely, not everyone would be able to spend New year’s Eve together. Emma was beyond shocked the way He turned into a lawyer all in the space of five minutes. He’d managed to make it sound so natural and fluid that it went right over his brunette mother’s head. 

It was funny to Emma and to Henry, but that’s how she found herself at Jefferson’s, no possible way of knowing that her son and girlfriend planned the entire thing with her, more than in mind. Nadia and Grace were out on a trip to visit the woman’s parents and before them sat a handful of wine bottles, empty as they giggled stupidly at tv shows that seemed to fry every cell of their brains. 

He had smirked at her as a result of the comment because of course Regina would notice- hell, everyone probably noticed.

“ _ Yes, Regina. That’s precisely why Nadia’s tongue was down my throat the entire night as well, _ ” Jefferson had replied smartly and Regina giggled again, the effects of the alcohol wracking through her body and causing her to fall completely over the edge and just be for the first time in a long damn time. He smiled and had brought his friend in for a hug and they just talked about nonsense and life for hours.

“So!” Regina began in a hiccupped breath before she was giggling yet again. “-life’s good and you’ve got your wife back. Your daughter is with you seven days a week and I’m almost positive your sex life has shot up tenfold,” she teased and Jefferson shook his head with a laugh.

“Yeah, it’s back to normal. It’s.. safe again,” he tells her and she nods before she asks.

“So.. is she on you about your medication?” He shook his head.

“No. She realized that I functioned just fine without them it’s just that sometimes when I’m overwhelmed I do need them. I can’t completely write off not having them at all, so I manage without them until it gets too much and then I have to take them. She’s more supportive now than she has been in a very long time. I think she gets it, but I’m not so sure. She smiles but it’s just something behind her eyes that shows that she’s struggling to fully get over it and I guess I shouldn’t expect her to be over it so quickly…. Grace was a little skeptical at first with us getting back together because as far as she knew, her mother didn’t want anything to do with me, but Nadia’s been talking to her and spending time with her to explain why,”

“Why what? Why she was such a handful and a borderline-,”

“-Regina!” he scolded with a laugh.

“I was going to say pain in the ass,” the brunette hiccupped again and Jefferson rolled his eyes.

“Sure you were,” he grins and she grins back with a shrug.

“Seriously though, Jeff- I’m happy for you and not just you, but for Nadia.. especially Grace,”

“I know. I’m happy for you too. You have a daughter. You have Emma- you have Henry and your sister… you even have Mal back,” he tells her and Regina smiles because she truly does have all of those people that Jefferson had listed and it makes her heart beat faster at the thought of possibly losing one of them and that..that right there is something she never wants to experience any time soon. “Her and Grace are going to be inseparable,” Jefferson says and at first Regina misses the reference. He rolls his eyes in a loving manner. “Lily,” he smiles and Regina gets it. She tilts her head and huffs a laugh.

“They already are,”

“Not fully,” he argues and she rolls her eyes at him.

“Says the man who gives in every time they both want to dress alike-” Regina accuses and Jefferson cuts her off.

“-You do the same!” he laughs loudly and she laughs alongside him but says to him,

“I don’t. You, Emma and Maleficent do that,”

“Because it’s cute,” he defends and Regina rolls her eyes once more. She swears- anymore eye rolls and they’ll pop out her head.

“It is, but that doesn’t mean I intend to give into it every time-”

“-HA! See, you just said it. You said you give in!”

“Jesus, Jefferson!” She laughs at him because he’s insufferable but she loves him beyond bounds. He snickers into another glass of wine and Regina just looks at him. He’s so much more at ease with a drink in his hand and alcohol in his system, but she realizes that sober Jefferson, much like sober Regina differ drastically in terms of context to their counterparts… their ‘drunk as fuck selves’ as he’d gingerly put it a few hours earlier and she’d just about choked on her drink, laughing.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

January 1st. The following year after the proposal, Christmas Party, the other proposal and baby announcement.

  
  


It was a Saturday morning. A beautiful Saturday morning. The first of January. It was the Saturday that kicked off the comfort and dawn of the new year and the instant thoughts of how many birthdays that would be celebrated within that year were rampant. Emma and Regina had danced themselves tired during the Christmas party, and the blonde had still not recovered from the proposal of the evening. She’d been more than aware that she had cried like a baby during Regina’s “very very soon” proposal, during their dance and afterwards when she’d figured she should have settled down. David and Mary Margaret were busy with Regina’s father and letting him rub Mary Margaret’s somewhat existent bump that he hadn’t even noticed up until later that evening. Emma’s brothers were enamoured with the girls the same way her sisters literally cooed over Henry. Every single action and every single step the children of the Mills clan took, was wholeheartedly documented and praised even if they just sat down.. Okay, so maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but the whole point is that Regina was the only one with a teenager and that’s what really made Emma’s siblings feel old as hell. 

Louie had complained that Regina had a baby face whilst he looked like someone’s run down, drunken uncle. Emma had flat out laughed and told him, “Technically you are someone’s uncle.. You’re many someone’s uncle and you do drink.. Run down? Not so sure about that, but still.” 

And of course he was sour after that one. Cindy took it in stride because she kind of expected a teenager somewhere in that giant cluster of people. She explained to Louie that if they thought about it, they should have had teenagers themselves, at least by now. He’d shook his head and told her that at 36, he still can’t get over the fact that he has a little girl. She’d then punched him in the shoulder and told him that if he’d be that unrealistic then he probably should not have had his daughter and that’s when her words hit him. It made him realize that he sounded like he regretted his daughter and he honestly didn’t. He really didn’t regret his little girl- nor would he ever. 

 

Denver, Kelvin and Beth didn’t really give a damn, they just focused on trying to get to know the kids who were more than open to actually talking to them once they were told who these people ‘belonged to’ as Lily and Ana put it. Henry had managed to slip away from them for a while in order to check on Lina who seemed to be more than okay with her boyfriend that Henry had still yet to meet fully. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t have an opportunity to do just that, but simply turned it down because he didn’t feel that it was the right time. She’d given him a look akin to sympathy but he had no idea why. She must’ve thought Henry felt threatened by.. Dillan? Darren? Dobby? Who knew. Henry wasn’t big on trying to impede on time that Lina had equated to be with whatever his name was. He merely hugged his friend and kissed her cheek before he told her to have fun and was off in another direction, his eye catching Nova as she seemed to be watching her daughter with this boy she’d been unaware even existed. Her mother seemed okay enough with the boy, but then again it was probably because Lina had been dating him for a while before that and her mother had thought she’d have told her what was up. She didn’t, which was blatantly obvious; but Nova made no point in being an ass, or disrespectful-instead, she simply gave them their space and decided to just find something else to do with her time. That thing she found to do was chat with some man who happened to be a server, but in the same age range as her. They hit it off. He’d explained how long he’d been in the industry as a runner and a server and she seemed more than intrigued as she explained her own profession to him. They’d practically been swallowed into their own conversation and weren’t seen much by the ending of the night because they’d exited the building and decided to go and sit on a curb to have a less than interrupted conversation. Henry’s eyes travelled once again, his internal thoughts taking hold of his sight. His eyes settled on his grandfather and his uncle.. Or cousin. He still didn’t know what to call David considering David acted more like Regina’s brother and her cousin. He usually rotated between calling him ‘unc’ and just David. The man answered to both which surprised the teen none. He decided not to interrupt that moment either and just found himself floating through the crowd, just trying to find some form of distraction and ‘fun’ if the night could afford him it. He found nothing and soon found himself sat at a table, just staring at everyone and everything.

 

_ “Pretty sure you’re meant to smile at these parties, Hen,” Maleficent had said to him and he looked up at her. She was stood next to him and looking down at him with a face that gave away sympathy to what he was feeling. He sighed because he knew that no matter how long she was out of his life, she could always tell when Henry felt the way Regina and she herself sometimes did, and that amazed her to no end. _

_ “I know,” he answers and she says nothing. He motions with his chin to the empty chair and she sits down without another word. They sit in silence that’s comfortable for them because that’s their thing. It’s always been their thing. It was something that Mal did with him because Henry would go in spells where he either just fell mute or merely couldn’t express himself and the sadness he more than likely felt. So, they sat and they watched everyone around them smile and grin and laugh and be happy whilst they wondered why they felt so much like outsiders. Henry assumed his was as a result of him being adopted and not necessarily feeling like he connected much past his usual family, but that couldn’t have been it because he looked at Emma and her siblings and then at himself and realized he’s just as happy as she and they were, so it couldn’t have necessarily been that.. Mal knew what hers and his was. It was simply that everyone was distracted by someone else or something and that was why they both felt like they just… basically were outsiders. Everyone had a someone to be bothered over. They, had no one but themselves to be bothered over. Lina was distracted and Lily was off with some children or running towards Regina and Emma. Ana was all hand in hand with Nikol, pulling the child through the crowds. Zelena was nowhere to be seen or she was quite possibly getting to know the extended family. Henry’s grandfather and David were all caught up in their own shit. There were no other teens at that party that he knew because everyone either had really young children or ‘children’ who looked like they were already in their first two years of college. They were, in their own way, alone- he and Maleficent. He’d finally looked over at the woman and smiled at her and she’d no clue why. _

_ “I really missed you, you know,” is what comes out of his mouth because he’s yet to tell her those words. He’s yet to have the chance to tell her those words without a disruption or interruption. Henry hadn’t gotten much of a chance to just sit down with Maleficent at some point and just.. speak freely. Yeah, when they stayed with his grandfather he had it, but it wasn’t the same, she was more than stressed out. She was lost in a sense. She was unnerved. But now, she was a little more free. She had more room to just exist and all he wanted at that point was the happiness that everyone else got. Part of that lay where his relationship with Maleficent should have flourished and didn’t get the chance to. _

_ “I missed you too, Hen,” she whispered to him and managed to smile a bit genuinely at him. His face was immediately shot with sympathy for her. It was a silent, ‘I know you’re not fully okay yet, but I still love you. I still believe in you. Just, come back momma.’ _

_ “Do you think I could spend New year’s with you?” he then asked and she seemed very shocked by his request. _

_ “I-I’m not sure… wouldn’t you want to spend it with your mother and Emma.. and Lily?” _

_ “I’ve spent enough with mom and I can always spend it with her and Emma and Lily since you guys are staying… I mean- you are staying right?”  _

_ He was met with silence and eyes that avoided his. His face didn’t falter. _

_ “You’re staying,” he answers his own question because he’ll be damned if he loses her again. “I’m not losing you again and I’m not going to lose Lily the way I lost you because you’re scared now. You don’t get to run anymore. You can’t run anymore. You have too much here to run away from us. We love you too much-I LOVE YOU TOO MUCH..Mom still loves you too much- so you can’t just run away... Just- you just can’t okay!” he tells her and he’s determined. His words have slipped out but they hold strength in them. She hears the strength but she also hears the pain. The blatant pain that’s very evident in his words. _

_ “I’m.. I’m staying,” she chokes out and there’s tears coating the words. There’s truth coating those words. There is promise coating those words. He nods because he knows she will. _

_ “I’ll ask mom about staying with you for New year’s. I’ll see if she’s okay with me spending at least some of it in the morning with them and the rest with you, but I want New year’s with you and I know you won’t want to spend it with everyone there because of what happened, _

_ but I want to start off the year right and I want that to be with all of you, even if it means not all of you in the same room. Mal had nodded at Henry, still unsure whether or not she could claim him as her son because she wasn’t sure she was even allowed to anymore. So, Mal goes for silence and a nod because they’re safe and they don’t require her to figure out where her relationship with Henry is. He nods at her and they sit in silence once more. Somehow that small conversation and decision made Henry feel so much better, and it seemed that’s all it took for him to be the target of more action. _

 

_ “Sweetheart, where were you. I’ve been looking for you,” Regina had said to him before wrapping her arms around him and hugging him close. _

_ “You know, just around,” he told her with a grin, but Regina knew for Henry to be sat somewhere like that with the same face he and Maleficent usually sported, he went through one of his moods again. She hugged him even tighter, a silent message to tell him not to feel like he didn’t belong which he picked up on. It never ceased to amaze him how they just knew without  having to hear it. They could see it, and even Emma was starting to pick up on it here and there. “ You’ve yet to dance with me for the evening,” she tells him and he bobs his head. _

_ “That’s because Emma wouldn’t let you go,” he combatted and she rolled her eyes before tugging him from his seat. _

_ “Come,” she commands and he obliges with a grin. Mother and son make their way to the dance floor and Regina waits for Henry to take the lead. When he does, they float through the music. Years of him begging her to dance with him in their living room to watching him perfect it as best as he could is what led to Henry being able to dance like it was such a natural thing for him. _

_ “Mom,” he whispered and she hummed. “Do you think we’ll ever be back to the way we were?” he’d asked and his mother shook her head because she’d suspected this question. _

_ “No, sweetheart I don’t-,” she had responded and when his face fell she brought it back up before kissing his forehead. “-but I do know we’ll be better. Maleficent is still struggling with everything and I’m trying not to push or rush her progress but she won’t ever forgive herself.. I’d told her she was just like her father and that is possibly the worst thing you could tell someone who is trying so hard not to be the people they despise the most.” Silence. _

_ “I told her the same thing… I shouldn’t have, should I?” _

_ “I don’t know, honey. If it’s what you felt and what was on your heart, sometimes you have to neglect someone’s feelings to let yours out. Sometimes you have to say what no one else will because it has to be said. Sometimes.. Sometimes what we say may be the most hurtful thing, and yet it can also be the turning point for someone,” _

_ “What do you think it is for momma?” he asked and she fell silent. For as long as she had to think about it, Regina still never could quite come up with an actual response. She’d always fallen directly in the middle with it. _

_ “Honestly, honey.. I don’t know. I don’t think what either of us said is making her better, but I don’t think it’s making her worse… I think it just makes her even more..aware.” He nodded before he spun his mother and they continued to dance. _

_ “Mom,” _

_ “Hmm?” _

_ “Could I spend new year’s with momma? Please!” he begged and Regina looked surprised but she somewhat expected that to become a thing, she just didn’t expect it this quickly. _

_ “I-I..” she faltered for her words and he sighed. _

_ “I get it.. You don’t want me to,” he said dejectedly but his mother shook her head quickly. _

_ “Sweetheart, no that’s not it at all! I’m just.. Surprised, though I guess I shouldn’t be with you...but it’s not my decision to make. It’s yours, however I’m not the only person you’ll be explaining it to if you do decide you want to,” his mother tells him before motioning over with her chin and Emma who was sat next to Maleficent and Lily, finally settled into her mother’s lap and talking to both the blondes. _

_ “I know,” he nods. “ That’s why I wanted to know if you think you guys would be okay with me spending New year’s morning and then the rest of it with momma?” _

_ “Like I said, you’ll have to explain it if that’s what you want, but I’m okay with it… there’s just your sister and Emma left.” _

_ “You’re really okay with it?” _

_ “If it makes you happy, yes I’m more than okay with it… Henry, regardless of how far away Mal and I may drift, she’ll always be your mother and if you want to keep your relationship with her, who am I to stop you? She was your mother for seven years. She was the one who took on such a big role when we were still teenagers.She didn’t have to, but she did it and I can’t take away what she’d worked to build up with you over the years. If spending New year’s day with her will make you happy and make her happy, then do that, sweetheart.. Just make sure that everyone who needs to know, knows.” He nodded. _

_ “I got it mom… I love you,” he said to her before pulling her in for a bone crushing hug. _

_ “I love you too, Henry..go,” she whispered as they released and she pushed him toward Emma and Maleficent and Lily. He let his feet carry him and Regina watched the exchange where Emma perked up once she saw Henry and Mal remained stoic. Lily seemed perplexed as he continued to explain and though Emma understood, no one could miss the slight disappointment in her eyes, but then she perked up again once she heard the entire thing. Lily wasn’t too happy about it, but when Henry got down on one knee to explain it to her she’d just nodded and accepted it. _

_ “What’s happening over there,” Zelena queried as she came up beside her sister. Regina’s arms were folded and she allowed her eyes to travel for a second to settle on Zelena for a moment before she spoke. _

_ “Henry wants to spend new year’s with Maleficent,” _

_ “Ahhh. I take it that’s why Emma looks.. distraught and happy at the same time?” _

_ “You could say that,” Regina smirked a little. _

_ “And are you okay with it?” _

_ “I am. She’s his mother,” _

_ “Emma will be soon as well,” _

_ “I know, that’s why I told him that everyone who needs to know, he has to tell them. I don’t make decisions for Henry. He makes them for himself, which makes it his responsibility to deal with everyone who will be affected by it,” Regina explained and Zelena was rather impressed. _

_ “That’s a lot of independence,” _

_ “It’s enough for him to understand how to function in a world like this where one small decision causes a domino effect of change. He has to learn it sooner or later, why not now when he can still slip and fall but have enough support to get back up with a little extra guidance for the next time around?” _

_ “Hmm, true. Very true,” _

_ “What about you. Where are you spending the new year?” _

_ “With our cousin and fertile Myrtle,” Zelena joked and Regina snickered. _

_ “I don’t know why you call her that, but good luck,” _

_ “Why? Is she terrible,” _

_ “Far from it. She’s an absolute sweetheart, it’s our troublesome cousin, David you need to worry about,” Regina laughed with a roll of her eyes. _

_ “He sounds like a delinquent,” _

_ “He is,” Regina laughed and her sister shook her head. _

_ “Well, I don’t plan to spend the entire day with them. I do think that spending it with my sister is a plus as well,” _

_ “It would be, especially if daddy didn’t have to work on that day,” _

_ “Why doesn’t that man just sit down,” _

_ “I have absolutely no idea. He refuses to retire,” _

_ “He sounds like you. Headstrong and stubborn,” _

_ “I keep telling him that but he believes I got it from my mother,” Regina shrugs and Zelena nods. _

_ “Maybe you did, but our father is about as stubborn as a bull.. You’re like a baby bull… besides that, Ana’s father wants to spend some time with her?” _

_ “How did he even get in contact with you?” _

_ “I don’t know, and I don’t care. I haven’t responded,” _

_ “Are you going to?” _

_ “Honestly… I might, not for me, but for Ana, then again, that all depends on whether or not she wants to see him. He’s been gone long enough that I’m nearly positive the only thing she’ll remember about him is the nickname he gave her and even still, that’s a hard one.” _

_ “You could always ask her if she wants to see him,” _

_ “That’s what I plan to do, I’m just not sure she would understand the depth of it. Like what if he’s remarried? What if he has another child? What if he can’t even be a good enough father to her in the space of time afforded,” _

_ “Then you cross that bridge when you get to it. Nothing’s planned or set in stone. He might surprise you and pick up where he left off, he might not. He might have a child, he might not, he might be remarried- he might not. The whole point is, at the end of the day- Ana is the one who should be allowed to decide that. If she says no. She says no, but that doesn’t mean he should stop trying, if he truly cares about her and wants to get to know her. If he loves her, he will leave the door open and whenever she decides to walk through it, is whenever she decides to walk through it.” Zelena is silent, she’s in awe. She’s.. Proud. _

_ “How’d you ever get so good with this kind of thing?” _

_ “I don’t know, I suppose I just learned from everyone around me and learned with Henry.” _

 

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

  
  
  



End file.
